Neighbors & Differences

 I am lucky to be on this road right now. It is a road filled with many interesting and great people.  Despite it not being a hugely populated road, there have been several changes in just the last couple years: new babies, several losses, a new community garden, and many moves. Our neighbors are sensitive enough to care yet considerate enough not to pry or overstep boundaries. It is a good road.

I was discussing this perk with a neighbor I'm most fond of this evening named John. He lost his wife last fall and I have done my best to reach out without overstepping because he is just such a good man... now a lonely one. Together he and his wife were posted the world throughout as she was an ambassador to Canada, he an architect and they raised a beautiful family. Now he walks his dog Lucy alone and watches the birds and we occasionally have the loveliest chats... yet so far a distance are we in terms of life experience; he was born in Australia and brought up in South Africa, his children are grown and his family is mostly all gone. He is ever so proper and English in his way and I am so, well, not. And yet, in each other it is plain that we have found a kindred spirit... he so kindly brought me a Hibiscus and a card today, and how of course would he know that I am simply mad for flowers, let alone Hibiscus :) The flowers both in and outside have brought much needed life to the house... am most grateful to those who sent them.

I have come to find it strange that those you most expect to seek solace in during such a difficult time are not at all the ones who turn out to be your greatest support. I am re-learning the value of differences and how important it is to cherish such differences because all of our unique gifts shine when needed most.  I am grateful for the people in my life.